Griffith Stadium - Field Design

Field Design

The stadium was laid out at an angle within its block in the Washington street grid. Thus, it was over 400 feet down the left field line (east) to the bleachers (though this distance was shortened in later years by the construction of an inner fence). The fence also took an unusual right-angled jut into right-center field where a large tree and several apartment buildings stood, due to the unwillingness of the owners of the tree and those nearby houses to sell to the Senators' owners during construction of the stadium. The right field fence angled away from the infield sharply which, in addition to a 30-foot fence (to block the view from surrounding buildings) about 8 feet inside the lower, outer wall, meant that relatively few home runs were hit at the stadium. Center field was east-southeast of home plate, which made for difficult visibility for the fielders in the late afternoon sun. Senators groundskeepers maintained a downhill slope from home plate to first base, supposedly to help accelerate slow Washington batters. However, Griffith's groundskeepers were still adept at keeping a fine sod field that was "compared to that of the best golf courses". This was in sharp contrast to the unkempt field that can be seen in photographs of Griffith prior to 1923. For many years, the right field grandstand wall served as the right field foul line for the last 15 feet before the foul pole, making it impossible to catch a ball there. The 41-foot tall, hand-operated scoreboard in right-center was in play, as was the National Bohemian beer sign, shaped like a bottle, 56 feet above the playing field. At one point in his youth, future MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn was the operator of the scoreboard.